Data Documents and Common Sense

What can be so difficult in creating a sensible standard for Structured Data Documents? To understand why they tend to get improved into unusable complexity, I’ll need to explain a bit of background.

Quiesce

DCL

Department of Redundancy Department

Ever wonder all the reasons that we use databases instead of file systems? While we don’t think of it too much anymore, the first reason that databases came into existence was to remove redundancies.

Getting Out of Character

In this article, Joe Celko gives us a history of the different character sets that are used in computing and how that can pertain to your usage in relational databases. Some of these you may have never heard of!

The VALUES clause or building tables out of nothing

The VALUES clause makes inserting literal values into a table simple and easy. In this article, Joe Celko explains how to use the VALUES clause.

Combinations, permutations, and derangements

Joe Celko explains how several mathematical concepts, combinations, permutations, and derangements, relate to databases.

The problem with averages

Everyone learns to calculate an average in school, but, as Joe Celko shows, there are better ways to summarize data.

Much Ado about nothing: missing data

Joe Celko explains how missing data is handled from the printing press to databases.

Constraints and declarative referential integrity

Database systems have powerful features built right in that can ensure the integrity of data. In this article, Joe Celko discusses keys and constraints.